The Supreme Court showed interest this week in considering a challenge from Hawaii against big oil companies, which wants to hold these companies accountable for their alleged role in the ever-changing climate. And already, some Democrats are saying that the high court is biased in favor of the fossil fuel industry.
On Monday, the Supreme Court requested the Justice Department to consider a petition to hear a lawsuit brought by the City of Honolulu against major fuel companies such as Sunoco, Exxon, and Chevron. The city claims that the companies’ products lead to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming without adequately informing consumers about the associated risks, Fox News reported.
The city invoked a set of state laws, including public nuisance and trespass measures, arguing that the companies should compensate the state with billions of dollars to mitigate the impacts of climate change. These impacts include weather events, sea level rise, heat waves, flooding, and global warming in general, the city claims. The high court did not give the DOJ a deadline for the solicitor general’s input, but its request indicates a high likelihood that justices want to hear the case.
The energy companies initially appealed to the Hawaii Supreme Court, contending that federal law prevents individual states from effectively shaping energy policies for all states. However, the court disagreed and ruled that the case should proceed to trial, Fox News reported. One justice said, “The Aloha Spirit inspires constitutional interpretation.”
“It is important for the U.S. Supreme Court to grant review. The Hawaii Supreme Court’s decision flatly contradicts U.S. Supreme Court precedent and federal circuit court decisions, including the Second Circuit which held in dismissing New York City’s similar lawsuit, ‘such a sprawling case is simply beyond the limits of state law,’” Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr. of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, a lawyer for the Chevron Corporation told Fox. “These meritless state and local lawsuits violate the federal constitution and interfere with federal energy policy.”
As Democrats are prone to do, some have already begun preemptively trying to again discredit the constitutionalist nature of the nation’s highest court. Last week, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, posted on X saying, “[t]his captured Court’s delays of and interference in fossil fuel emissions regulations have already saved the polluters hundreds of billions — way more than they spent to capture it. But there is no end to fossil fuel polluters’ greed and entitlement.”
Lisa Graves, the executive director at the left-wing watchdog group True North Research, told Rolling Stone magazine that fossil fuel companies’ “efforts to evade legal accountability are being aided by… the very same groups that helped the majority of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court get their seats on the bench.”
The Federalist Society, a conservative legal group, and affiliated lawyers and groups have discussed the case in seminars and journal articles advocating that the Court take up the case. The Federalist Society has made recommendations to Republican administrations for justices and judges across the country. But Fox News Digital has previously reported that the Hawaii litigation has been pushed by liberal dark money groups and legal partners.
The Federalist July 28, 2022 Society, a conservative legal organization, along with its affiliated lawyers and groups, has engaged in discussions about the case through seminars and journal articles, advocating for the Supreme Court to hear the case. The society is known for recommending judicial appointments to Republican administrations across the country. Meanwhile, Fox News Digital has reported that the litigation in Hawaii has been advanced by liberal dark money groups and their legal partners.
“We have been raising awareness about the dangers of public nuisance litigation for well over a year,” O.H. Skinner, executive director of the Alliance for Consumers, told Fox News Digital. “These cases represent a coordinated, dark-money-fueled threat to everyday consumers. The cases, commentators, law firms, and state court judges are all funded, supported, and trained by left-wing dark money.”
“And these cases find support in the halls of Congress from hypocrites like Sheldon Whitehouse, who bemoan dark money while filing legal briefs supporting liberal dark-money-backed public nuisance cases,” he added. “Whitehouse’s true goal, and that of most nuisance suits, is to remove products and services from the market that do not align with the progressive agenda.”
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.